2008-08-27 (meeting minutes)City of Atlantic Beach Tree Conservation Board
Regular Meeting Minutes
August 27, 2008
A regular meeting of the City of Atlantic Beach Tree Conservation Board was
convened at 7.•03 pm on Wednesday August 27, 2008 at the Adele Grage Cultural
Center, located at 716 Ocean Boulevard in Atlantic Beach. In attendance were
Board Members Jim McCue, Brea Pain Maureen Shaughnessy, Carole Varney,
and Principal Planner/Staff Liaison Erika Hall. Board Members Stephanie
Catania was excused from the meeting. The position of Recording Secretary was
vacant.
1. CALL TO ORDER
^ Chairperson Maureen Shaughnessy called the meeting to order at 7:03pm.
2. RECOGNITION OF VISITORS
^ There were no visitors or special guests in attendance.
3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Chair Shaughnessy called for a motion to approve the minutes from the August 13`h
regular meeting.
MOTION: Jim McCue moved to adopt the minutes of the August 13"', 2008 regular
meeting, as written.
SECOND: Brea Paul seconded the motion.
DISCUSSION: There was no further discussion.
VOTE: Unanimous, 4-0
4. UNFINISHED BUSINESS
a. TREE 06-00032018
5-69 16-2S-29E Atlantic Beach Lots 15,17 Block 6
(Branholm)
Mitigation
[This item was added to the agenda at the beginning of this meeting, at the request of Board
Member Carole Varney, and upon consensus of the Board It was handled out of order,
after "New Business'; item S.a]
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Minutes of the August 27, 2008 Regular Meeting of the Tree Conservation Board
Ms. Shaughnessy allowed Ms. Varney the floor since she had requested this item be
placed on the agenda. Ms. Varney stated that she believed the Board was potentially
setting a disastrous precedent in allowing Mr. Branholm to submit a "letter of
agreement" between himself and the new owner of the subject property [to the Board
and the City], as a means to bypass the City's tree removal & mitigation procedures.
Ms. Varney pointed out that it is the Board's duty to review applications and assess
mitigation in accordance with the provisions of the City's tree ordinance. As such,
extending further leniency to Mr. Branholm is beyond the authority of this Board. She
said that since the last meeting she had more thoroughly reviewed the agenda packet
materials Ms. Hall had submitted to the Board in preparation for the August 13th
meeting, and a number of factors caused her to reconsider the path the Board is
contemplating:
1. The official minutes of the January 11th, 2006 meeting reflects the
Board's decision to approve a total of 258" to be removed, and
require a total of 54" to be mitigated. However, the permit issued lists
a total of 239" to be removed, and requires a total of 51" to be
mitigated. It appears that 21" of elm listed on the original application,
and noted in the minutes were omitted from the details of the permit.
Additionally, 4-10" palms have been substituted for 38" of palm, and
1-5" oak has been omitted from the mitigation requirements as listed
on the permit. Ms. Hall noted that in the past, the Board employed a
recording secretary to keep minutes, and the staff liaison had an
administrative assistant who entered data & issued permits -and
these were typically not the same person. Thus, Ms. Hall believes the
omissions may have been a clerical error, and that is why she deferred
to the official record of the Board. Ms. Varney noted that based upon
the original application, the Board at the time of original review could
have assessed as much as 116" for all the trees the applicant was
requesting to remove, but for some reason, they had settled on 54".
Thus, Mr. Branholm has already been shown a great deal of leniency
from the beginning.
2. At the August 13th meeting, Mr. Branhohn denied his presence at the
November 8`h, 2006 meeting of the Tree Board and denied that he
ever agreed to "pay" the mitigation. However, the official minutes of
the November 8th, 2006 meeting clearly record the presence of Mr.
Branhohn, along with four of the currently seated Board Members,
who also reviewed and adopted those minutes at a subsequent
meeting. Also noted in the November 8th, 2006 record was Mr.
Branholm's acknowledgement of his debt to the City and a statement
of intent to pay that debt as soon as one lot was sold.
3. It is a matter of public record, as filed with the Duval County Clerk of
Court, that Mr. Branholm did sell one lot [Lot 17] on March 2, 2007.
This event satisfied the condition upon which the Board had granted a
deferral of mitigation in November 2006. Thus, the original
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Minutes of the August 27, 2008 Regular Meeting of the Tree Conservation Board
mitigation order should have been reinstated and enforced at this
point.
4. Ms. Varney added, at the August 13`h, 2008 meeting, the Board
effectively allowed Mr. Branholm to negotiate the terms of his
mitigation, by allowing him to involve the current owner of the
property. Any agreement between the previous owner and the
current owner should not be a factor in resolving the mitigation.
Ms. Varney explained that according to Robert's Rules of Order, a board member,
when on the prevailing side of the vote, may move to rescind or amend any adopted
motion from a previous meeting by two-thirds vote. Ms. Shaughnessy said she had
questioned why the item had come back before the Board, as she thought the
enforcement of the mitigation should have been referred to the Code Enforcement
Board. Ms. Hall explained that it was her understanding that, because the Tree Board
had adopted a motion effectively granting Mr. Branholm a deferral of mitigation, the
appropriate step would be for this Board to take action to reinstate the original
mitigation order. Enforcement of the mitigation order would be an entirely different
issue, especially considering the fact that Mr. Branholm no longer owns property in the
City of Atlantic Beach.
1. MOTION: Carole Varney moved that the Board rescind the motion of August
13, 2008 in which further consideration of this matter was deferred to a later
date, at which time Mr. Branholm was requested to appear before the Board
along with Mr. DeGiovanni, and bringing with them a draft letter of agreement
as to the responsibility for the outstanding mitigation assessed against the
subject property, to be drawn up between the two parties, with assistance from
Mr. Branholm's legal counsel and Mr. Jensen.
SECOND: Jim McCue seconded the motion.
DISCUSSION: Board Members agreed that Mr. Branholm received discounted
mitigation from the beginning, and the granted deferral has resulted in two
additional years to address his debt to the City.
VOTE: 4-0, unatimous (of those Board Members present) / 80% full board.
2. MOTION: Carole Varney moved to reinstate the original mitigation order
against Kenneth Branholm for previously-owned property located at 342 5"'
Street in Atlantic Beach, as summarized in the ot~icial minutes of the January
11, 2006 Tree Board meeting, and requiring the payment of interest at the
current rate [IO% per annum] retroactive to the date of sale of the first lot [Lot
17 on March 2, 2007] which is considered to be the point in time at which the
condition of deferral was satisfied.
SECOND: Jim McCue seconded the motion.
DISCUSSION: There was no further discussion.
VOTE: 4-0, unanimous.
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Minutes of the August 27, 2008 Regular Meeting of the Tree Conservation Board
5. NEW BUSINESS
a. TREE 08-011100038
2405 Mayport Road
(Godard for Agree Realty South-East LLC)
Tree Removal
Brett Godard, Godard Design Associates, Inc, appeared before the Board as
representative of this application, which is for tree removal in conjunction with the
redevelopment of a commercial parcel for the construction of a Walgreens. Chair
Shaughnessy introduced the application, noting that she had spoken with the current
owner of the property and she had concerns as to the timing of this request. Mr.
McCue agreed that he did not feel comfortable granting approval to remove trees when
the sale of the property was not guaranteed. He stated, and other members of the
Board agreed, that the Board should not allow another lot to be clear cut, just to have a
deal fall through and leave Atlantic Beach with another. Ms. Hall told the Board that
the sale of the property is contingent upon the prospective owner obtaining their
permits; thus the applicant's request for review. She explained that this was probably a
first round review, and once the final site plan was routed through Development
Review, she would meet again with Mr. Godard to determine if revisions to the tree
plan were required to accommodate necessary changes in parking, stormwater or any
other LDR requirement. Finally, she explained that a preliminary approval could be
entered into the development tracking system now, but the actual permit withheld until
final approval of the site plan was issued by the other reviewing departments.
The Board reviewed the oversized site plan which Ms. Hall had marked up with her
comments, and the mitigation assessment she had made according to the provisions of
Code. Ms. Hall explained that calculations were slightly different from Mr. Godard's
because several trees had been listed in the incorrect zone. Further, Mr. Godard had
not taken credit for the trees that were to be preserved onsite. Ms. Shaughnessy added
that the current owner said he would be removing some of the ornamental shrubs
(azalea, ligustrum) as well as the large royal palm.
MOTION: Carole Varney moved that the Board approve the plan for tree removal and
replacement as shown on the preliminary site plan and submitted by the applicant for
the property located at 2405 Mayport Road, and per the mitigation worksheet
calculated by stall; as follows: 1067" to be removed from the interior zone, including
605" oaks, 64" other hardwoods, 362" pines, and 36" palms; 88" to be removed from
the exterior zone, including 70" oaks and 18" other hardwoods. Of the total 1,155"
proposed for removal from the site, 860" are regulated trees such that standard
mitigation is 430", including 272" of oaks/hardwoods and 158" of other trees from the
recommended tree list. Mitigation is proposed to be accomplished by the preservation
of 354" of existing trees onsite, including 192" oaks, 37" other hardwoods, 92" pines,
and 33" palms; as well as the planting of 72" of oaks, 66" other hardwoods, and 9" of
ornamental trees. This brings the mitigation balance to a 71" surplus.
AMENDMENT: Jim McCue amended Ms. Varney's motion to include that the
removal of trees is contingent upon issuance of the building permit, at which point the
City is assured this project is going forward. Ms. Varney agreed to the amendment.
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Minutes of the August 27, 2008 Regular Meeting of the Tree Conservation Board
SECOND: Brea Paul seconded the motion.
DISCUSSION: There was no further discussion.
VOTE: 40, unanimous.
6. REPORTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
^ No reports or announcements were given.
7. ADJOURNMENT
^ Chairperson Maureen Shaughnessy adjourned the meeting at 8:17pm.
s~
SIGNED: Maureen Sha
~~f ~,ooS
ATTEST: Erika Hall, Principal Planner/Staff Liaison
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